There is a little country church not far from my house. I go there often, several times a month. Sometimes, several times a week.
One year, on All Saints Day, I was roaming the crooked roads with my husband. We noticed that there were cars near the church, so we stopped to see what was happening. Turns out, All Saints Day is the only day the little church is open. The light inside is beautiful.
Behind it, there is a quiet cemetery. I don’t personally know anyone buried there, but I do recognize several names. Soper. Smith. Hazel. Names of childhood friends’ families. I never expected to find solace roaming the gravel paths behind the church. They wind up and down a small hill, providing different views of the nearby farm, a stand of trees, and a small meadow where a willow tree is always the first to announce the coming of spring.
On this evening in April, I drove out to what I now think of as “my little church.” I walked along the grave sites. I noticed which flowers and trees were in bloom. As I walked up the path toward the front of the church, I saw the clouds part, and the sunset blaze across the sky.
I hope you’ll enjoy walking with me, finding your own grace notes to the end of the day.
Painted skies. Stillness. The Great Blue Heron. Each of these inspired this video that summarizes my week at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. We stay on the oceanfront, where we can watch the dolphin and pelican dance upon the waves. It’s just a short distance down the walkway and over the sand dunes to the beach.
But it’s the sound that calls to me each night at sunset. It’s here where I can feel the wind pull my hair, tugging at my hat. It’s here where I can feel my heart beat slow to a calming rhythm, my breath in sync with the tide, gently rising and falling with each lap against the shoreline. I search for a sighting of the solitary heron, graceful and majestic, finding its last morsel of the day and its resting place for the night. Soon, I’ll do likewise. But for now, I just listen to day’s end.
Painted skies are good for the soul.